Analeigh is Six Months Old!

Today we are waxing sentimental. Liz had her six month photos taken in a certain dress. She therefore determined Analeigh should share the same fate... er... honor (don't worry, Liz has punished Ben for his rudeness). Actually, it is a very cute dress and Analeigh pulls it off very well, as you can see below. And, since we're waxing sentimental, we're also including a scan of Liz's baby photo so that you can compare cuteness.

Analeigh's Latest Milestone

Analeigh recently began to sit up on her own. She still falls over now and then, so we have to surround her by pillows. Still, we thought some people might like to be made aware of this developmental milestone.

Return of the Bunny

For Christmas of 2006, David received a Laugh & Learn Learning Bunny. He loved the bunny so much he had his 9-month pictures taken with it. After we moved to Kansas, the bunny's sound box went out and it stopped singing the songs and saying the phrases that David loved so much.

We later remembered hearing about Mattel issuing a safety recall for the bunny. In the words of Mattel, "some of the bunnies were manufactured with a pink 'pom-pom' ball for a nose that could detach. This can pose a choking hazard to young children." You can see the old nose, compared to the new nose in the images below.


Believing this safety recall would be the ideal opportunity to swap a dysfunctional bunny for a working one, Ben mailed the bunny back to Mattel in exchange for a $16 voucher (for use ONLY in stores). Alas, after much searching at the Great Bend Wal-Mart, as well as driving an hour and a half to Salina to visit a Target, the bunny was nowhere to be found. Target even had the bunny on their website, but the Salina store refused to ship it to their store so we could use our voucher.

In the end, we caved and bought it from target.com and had it shipped to our home (we'll have to use the voucher for some other item we find in a store). When it arrived, Liz picked up the box and brought it in the house. As she set it down, she heard a small voice call out, "Whoa! I'm upside down!" We knew the bunny has a motion sensor of some sort to be able to tell when it is right side up and when it is not. We just didn't expect for the bunny to have batteries when it shipped. Given that the bunny talked to Liz, it would be interesting to know if the mailman ever wondered if someone was shipping their child in the mail.

Anyway, attached is a video of David re-receiving his bunny, straight out of the box. Note: if you're confused by the "bunny hug" reference in this video, see the third video, which explains it all.



Below is a video of the bunny recognizing when he is upside down.



We also wanted to include David's favorite song, at least when he was younger. Whenever he was in a tantrum, this was about the only thing that could calm him down. So, Ben would click through all the sayings & songs until he reached the right one and then would hand the bunny to David. If you'd like to sing along, here are the lyrics:

How about a bunny hug
From someone soft and sweet
With silky ears, a fuzzy tail
And great big bumpy feet!

ER - Not Just A TV Show

Liz went to the Central Kansas Medical Center's ER this evening. Lest you worry yourself into a frenzy, she is okay... sort of. Liz stubbed her toe while walking around a corner in our home this afternoon. She was a little bit concerned since her pinky toe pulled away from the rest of the foot when it hit. Liz called Ben at work and explained the situation and told him she was just going to put some ice on it. Ben, having not been a witness to the event, give his approval to her diagnosis and got back to work.

When Ben returned home in the evening, Liz was still on the couch and still icing her foot, as it was not any better. Ben explained that one benefit of having a baby earlier this year was that the insurance deductible had already been met and that Liz should therefore feel no guilt about going to the ER. So, Ben, Liz, David, and Analeigh piled into the car and headed to the hospital at around 7:30-ish. While Liz waited to be called back, David entertained the night staff with his gift of animal sound mimicry. Liz's left foot was eventually x-rayed and the diagnosis was given rather bluntly by her doctor, "Surprise, surprise, you broke your toe."

Liz now has a boot to prevent her from bending her foot. She was not given a cast, but instead has been instructed to buddy tape her pinky toe to the next toe to help keep it somewhat immobilized. Liz reports that she feels fine, but we suspect that her feelings might be related to the pain killers!

The pictures below aren't that great, but you can sort of see the bruising on her baby toe.

Take a Hike!

This Labor Day weekend, Great Bend was visited by Kevin Henson and his wife, who are re-enacting the Mormon Battalion march from Mount Pigsah near Thayer, Iowa to San Diego, California. Kevin began on July 3, 2008 and his hoping to complete the 2,000+ mile march by January 29, 2009 (at least according to the schedule posted here).

Anyway, our Bishop had the idea of having families hike with Kevin in order to earn the Historic Trails Award from BSA, as well as the Mormon Battalion Trail Award. Cub Scouts, Young Women, and some other adults (i.e. - mothers) hiked about 6.7 miles. Ben and the older scouts, along with Bishop, a couple of other Brethen, and Kevin Henson pursued onward until we reached Pawnee Rock - a town named for the unusually high rock formation that exists in an otherwise flat prairie land. The group of older scouts walked about 17+ miles, which is chronicled in Kevin's blog.

In the end, Ben came home sore and incredibly red - though we anticipate that he will have a nice suntan within a few days. Ben enjoyed himself and had fun talking to Kevin, who is from Midland, Michigan and knows a family Ben completed an adoption homestudy for when he was interning at LDS Family Services in 2006-07.

In researching for this blog entry, Ben search Google and found the following news articles from Mormon Times and Leavenworth Times (as in Leavenworth, KS). Take a look, if you're interested.